Thursday, August 8, 2013

Part IV: Abberation

Abberation

The first known instance of what would later become known as an aberration took place on October 3rd at 1:36 am GMT, when Japanese authorities responded to a call of a wild animal on the loose in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo.Those that survived the initial contact with the creature described at "ferocious, intelligent, and completely malevolent." by the end of the indecent it took the efforts of over 30 police officers with support from the Japanese Defense Force to take it down.The creature, described as a humanoid reptilian creature over 2m tall. With 17cm long claws, and hide tough enough to stop bullets. It was capable of tearing through steel and stone, as easily as flesh and its rampage resulted in 12 deaths, and 37 injuries of various severity. The Prime Minister of Japan tried her best to cover up the incident but it wasn't long till images and video of the event were loose on the internet causing a flurry of media coverage, even more so when the world realized it was not a hoax.Thought to be an isolated incident, most blamed contamination from the alien ship, while others blamed the suggestive techniques of a prominent biological engineering firm known for its questionable practices. It wouldn't be till a similar attack, miles away off the coast of Hawaii that people would begin to grow concerned.Autopsy of the second creature would reveal some startling facts covered up during the Japan attack. The creature was human. Human DNA had been exposed to some sort of unstable retrovirus, the result turning the helpless victim into a rampaging beast. Additionally, the agent, believed to be of alien origin, had been discovered in roughly 80% of the population with most people experiencing no symptoms. Additional studies, provided little useful data.It has been theorized that the agent can cause an allergic reaction that caused the cells of the body to react in an unusual manner and alter the DNA in ways that were unpredictable. What's worse, there was no way to predict who would suffer a negative reaction.It wasn't long until the appearance of these creatures, known as aberrations, hit the continental United States and began terrorizing its citizens.

Metahumans

The alien contamination was not wholly without advantageous effect. It was discovered, by chance, that instances of people displaying unusual physical characteristics. Enhanced strength, speed, agility, even mental acuity, had been observed to various degrees in a small percentage of the population. The government began recruiting these exception individuals to combat the Aberrations, as well as to keep America safe, with many being stationed at the wall to provide additional security.

Laws were passed requiring all citizens with extraordinary abilities to register with the government and, later additional bills were passed altering the selective service system so that all metahumans (regardless of gender) were required to serve a term of four years in the armed forces.

As a result the strength of the American military swelled, and its ability to police, and protect itself grew, the threat of aberrations was contained, and became another, carefully monitored, tool of the military.

The Dark Side of Power

More recently there have been disturbing reports. Stories of the possibility that metahumans could devolve into an aberration. More than once, it had been observed that some individuals who overuse their powers, develop mental instability. If this illness is left untreated and the individual continues to use their power it is widely believed that they risk devolving into a Aberration. Though the scientific validity of this theory has been hotly debated, agents in the field have routine physicals, and mental evaluations.